Willard on Technology and Community

Willard on Technology and Community

But most of them don’t know what community means because community means assuming responsibility for other people and that means paying attention and not following your own will but submitting your will and giving up the world of intimacy and power you have in the little consumer world that you have created…. They don’t know why that they think community might solve that, but when they look community in the face and realize that it means raw, skin to skin contact with other people for whom you have become responsible…that’s when they back away.”

For me, Dallas Willard is one of those people who hits it out of the park virtually every time he steps to the plate. Relevant Magazine has a good interview with him regarding the issues of the seduction of technology and authentic community. Here’s a couple of quotes:

On the seduction of technology:

“Well, I deal daily with college students and I have seen the seduction of technology. We live in a world where technology lifts mankind into a false sense of power and as a result my students have a feeling that if they can do something they should. They feel that they can go here, go there, shut that out, do what they want to, and that is the most seductive aspect to technology: it creates a false sense of intimacy and a false sense of sense of self.”

And on authentic community:

“That’s an expression of [this generation’s] loneliness. But most of them don’t know what community means because community means assuming responsibility for other people and that means paying attention and not following your own will but submitting your will and giving up the world of intimacy and power you have in the little consumer world that you have created. They are lonely and they hurt. They don’t know why that they think community might solve that, but when they look community in the face and realize that it means raw, skin to skin contact with other people for whom you have become responsible…that’s when they back away.”

One thought on “Willard on Technology and Community”

Jason,
I must thoroughly agree with you about Willard hitting it out every time. I find the words above about authentic community particularly powerful. Thanks for sharing that, and pointing us to the interview.
Peace